Playing with Fire
by WorldPeace9696
Summary: Who knew that moving to Chicago to live with her cousin would lead her into a passionate romance with the firefighter who lives right across from them? (Kelly Severide/OC) - can't think of a better summary at the moment, but feel free to check this story out!


**Chapter 1 - Blue Eyes**

Jennifer Choi huffed in annoyance as she glared at the 46 inch Samsung TV that was in front of her. She was pretty sure that it had been in good condition: no scratches and no chipping before the move. But now as she observed it, she noticed that there was an irritatingly big, three inch scratch on the right corner of the lower section of the screen. Not being the type to ever confidently complain about receiving poor service, she looked away from her TV. She didn't want the disappointment within her ruining the rest of her day. Besides, she was sure that if she called the moving company now, she would just get angrier because they would most likely argue that the scratch had already been there. This was what she got for trying to save money.

Her cousin, Ethan was holding an I-told-you-so look on his face and this caused her to release a deep sigh. She joined him by the kitchen island, leaning against the countertop with her face resting on the palm of her hand.

"I know what you're about to say," she said to him.

"You mean 'I told you so'?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. He took a sip of cool water from the clear glass before setting it down, waiting for her to begin getting annoyed at him.

"Ugh, I didn't want to hear that," she quickly said, flicking her hand at him because she didn't want him to remind her of her poor decision again.

She already knew that she should have listened to him. She should have chosen a better moving company, but it was too late now.

"It doesn't matter that much to you anyway. It's my TV," she reminded him.

"Yeah, your new flat screen with a terrible scratch on it," he said with a grin.

"Well, that's better than not having a TV at all," she retorted with her arms crossed. "I mean how the heck were you even living here without a TV?"

Jen had experienced a huge culture shock when she found out that her cousin was living without a television in his apartment. Where was the fun in that?

He shrugged in response. "I didn't need one, nor did I have the time for it."

"Okay. Whatever you say, Dr. Choi."

Sometimes, Ethan was so annoyingly perfect. He was six feet tall, which Jen was extremely jealous about because she was only 5 ft. 3 and he always towered over her. He was also very athletic; therefore, he was active, exercising whenever he wasn't working and making sure that every meal that he ate was considered healthy. Even with his scrubs on, he looked like a physical trainer and not a medical professional because he was so fit.

Basically, he and Jen were total opposites. Jen exercised… barely and when she was too lazy to cook, she happened to eat whatever was the most convenient. She just knew already that living here with him could lead to some disagreements. She was sure that she would eventually get nagged at for her choice in diet and that she would be dragged outside to go on jogs with him. He never said anything about her appearance or her lack of exercise, but she knew that her BMI was starting to get a little close to above the average. But still, she couldn't find the motivation to live like he did. He amazed her.

"So there's this 10K charity run outside of Chicago Med in a few weeks."

"Don't tell me. You're going to participate in it, aren't you?"

"Of course I am," he grinned. "And so, I was wondering if you-"

"Ha, very fun," she cut him off. "I can't even run a mile without dying."

"You're always so over dramatic. I wasn't even going to ask you to join the run. Obviously, you wouldn't be up for it," he said sarcastically. "I was wondering if you wanted to come volunteer. You know, help out with setting things up."

Jen thought about it. She was new to Chicago and perhaps she would be living here for a while, so it would be nice to try and make some friends within the city. But then again, she wasn't enthusiastic about going to social events and that was because she didn't like stepping out of her comfort zone. Instead, she preferred staying at home if that was an option.

"I'm not sure… I might get busy around that time."

"Come on. It'll be a Saturday and you don't teach on weekends."

That was true. Jen was caught in a lie.

"I would introduce you to a lot of cool people. It'd be great."

Since Ethan worked at Chicago Med, he knew a lot of people and had a lot of friends. Although she wasn't fully excited about the whole idea, she decided that it would be best for her to join him at the event. Besides, Ethan wasn't going to take no for an answer. Who knew? Maybe going there would somehow give her life a positive impact in the long run.

* * *

Because she couldn't stand opening the refrigerator and finding nothing appetizing to eat, Jen decided to go grocery shopping. Ethan was working a night shift, so she knew that she would be returning home to an empty apartment.

With grocery bags held in both hands, she waited for the elevator to reach her and Ethan's floor. A moment later, the elevator came to a complete stop with a soft ding. Her mind had blanked out while she had been waiting, so she was caught by surprise when the doors slid open to reveal a man standing there. Not just any ordinary man, but someone tall, muscular, and the exact definition of handsome.

Jen normally wasn't the type to be so overly attracted to a man that she was seeing for the first time, but this was exactly what was happening.

He gave her a polite smile as he stepped out of the way to let her out. Her face felt frozen at first, but the corners of her lips eventually raised up into a smile, returning his kind expression. Finding her voice, she greeted him because he was probably a neighbor and she wanted to make a good first impression.

"Hey," he said back. "You're Jen, right? You just moved in?"

"Uh, yes," she awkwardly replied, unsure of how else to respond because she was caught by surprise. How did he know her name?

"I'm sorry," he said quickly, perhaps noticing that she was suddenly uncomfortable. "I promise I'm not a stalker. I'm a friend of Ethan's and he mentioned you."

She nodded in understanding after hearing his explanation. That made sense.

"My name is Kelly by the way."

The first thought that came to her mind after hearing his name was how she had never met a male Kelly before, but his name was another thing that was added to the list of things that she liked about him. She couldn't believe that her mind was already starting to form a list of attractive traits about this man that she was meeting for the first time. She really needed to stop.

Jen had noticed the small gap between Kelly's upper front teeth as he had spoken to her. Even that looked attractive on him.

"It's nice to meet you, Kelly," she said, purposely saying his name out loud because that was usually what she did in order to remember a name the very first time.

Shifting the bag that was in her right hand to her left, she stretched out her free hand towards him and he immediately shook it. His large hands felt rough compared to hers which she figured was from hard work, whatever it was that he did.

"Yeah. It's nice to meet you too," he said in a genuine tone, briefly taking his eyes off of her to tap the button with the downward arrow symbol to keep the elevator from closing its doors. "Listen, if you ever need anything, don't be afraid to ask. We're right across from you."

She couldn't help but get lost in his blue eyes for a moment. They were hard to miss. They were so electrifying. It almost seemed like they had a life of their own.

"Thank you," she nearly blubbered.

After he left, she was left with more curiosity mixed into her thoughts. He had used the word, we.

Did he have a girlfriend?

Or was he married?

For some reason, she wanted to know more about him so bad and she had no idea why. She knew that she was too self-conscious to ever be involved with such a beautiful man like him anyway.

* * *

_Author's Note: I recently got back into watching Chicago Fire and now I have been inspired to write a new story. Yay! If you're enjoying this so far, I'd appreciate it if you could let me know through a review. Thank you for reading! I'll see you in the next chapter!_

_-Jane_


End file.
